Walmart heir Rob Walton agrees to buy Denver Broncos

Rob Walton, the son of the founder of Walmart Inc., is leading a group that agreed to purchase the National Football League’s Denver Broncos, in what could be the most lucrative-ever takeover in US sports. 

The two sides didn’t disclose terms in a joint statement Tuesday. Walton’s offer was worth $4.65 billion, ESPN reported, citing NFL sources it didn’t identify. Bloomberg previously reported that the offer exceeded $4 billion. 

If that amount is confirmed, the deal would mark the highest sum ever paid for a US professional team, surpassing the $3.3 billion sale of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets to Alibaba Group Holding Inc. co-founder Joe Tsai in 2019 and David Tepper’s 2018 purchase of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers for $2.3 billion. The transaction would need to be approved by the league’s finance committee and owners.

Walton, 77, was an early frontrunner in a crowded field of contenders vying for the first NFL team to go up for sale in four years. Josh Harris, co-founder of Apollo Global Management Inc., mortgage billionaire Mat Ishbia and Clearlake Capital Group co-founder Jose Feliciano all reportedly placed bids. 

The former Walmart chairman is the 17th-richest person in the world with a net worth of $59.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. An NFL team would be an unusually high-profile purchase for one of the Waltons, whose family has historically avoided flashy assets in keeping with patriarch Sam Walton’s legendary thrift.

The Broncos’ longtime owners, the Bowlen family, said in February they were planning to sell the franchise. The team went 7-10 last season, finishing at the bottom of the AFC West division. The Broncos have won the Super Bowl—the NFL’s championship—three times.

The takeover would mark another in a string of recent major deals involving top sports franchises. UK soccer team Chelsea FC was sold to American investor Todd Boehly with backing from California-based private equity firm Clearlake Capital for £4.25 billion ($5.3 billion) last month. 

However, fewer than a dozen NFL franchises have changed hands over the past two decades. NFL owners include several of the US’s richest people, including Stephen Ross, Jerry Jones and Stan Kroenke. 

—Bloomberg News